AuthorTopic: FSU v. FIU v. Ave Maria (Read 355 times)

So i need to choose which law school to transfer to. I have a full scholarship at Ave Maria, but have no scholarships at FIU & FSU. I'm in the top 10% at Ave Maria and will lose my ranking when i transfer. Help please!

If you are planning to have your own practice in Naples, then I would just stay at Ave Maria. Anything else and I would recommend strongly considering the transfer.

I personally really like FIU. They have competitive employment prospects and for a fraction of the cost compared to FSU. FIU is also picking up traction. My hunch is they will be in the Top 50 within the next 10 years or so.

If you are dead set to work anywhere in North Florida or even in the South, I would say FSU. If you want to work in South Florida (other than the Naples area), I would say FIU. And if you are not sure of your future but want the best bang for your buck, I would also say FIU.

But those are just my gut reactions to a very general question. You need to think long and hard about your realistic goals and future needs. I would also recommend calling the schools up and speaking to them candidly about whatever your situation is. They may be able to shed light on the decision that we might not be able to.

There is a lot to think about and one of the most important factors to consider is location.

Why did you choose Ave Maria originally do you have family in Naples?

Miami, Tallahassee, and Naples are different places and odds are you will end up in whatever City you attend law school.

An additional factor to consider when transferring is your personal relationships at the school. If you finished in the top 10% of your class you are doing well and your rank will improve significantly, because many of the people above you will transfer.

I had the option to transfer from a mid-level school to some low-level T1's in the law school bubble I thought law school rankings were everything, but now that I am well out of the law school bubble I realize how irrelevant the rankings are.

If you have a lot of good relationships with professors, friends, etc at Ave Maria you might want to stay. Many of my classmates that transferred regretted it they had to start at a new school after all the 1L relationships are formed etc. Some people are great at adjusting to a new social situation while others are not that is a question only you can answer.

One thing I highly recommend doing is negotiating with Ave Maria for scholarship money to reduce tuition if you can get a significant scholarship and graduate in the top 5% of the class you will be in good shape.

With that said both FIU and FSU offer very cheap in-state tuition.

It is a really tough choice my recommendation is always if it is not broke don't fix it. You are doing extremely well if your in the top 10% of your class and my thought is don't rock the boat, but I am a random guy on the internet so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Congrats on your strong first year performance and good luck whatever you decide.

I misspoke, Citylaw is right... FIU and FSU both have about the same cost of attendance (assuming no or similar scholarships at both). They are each about $40k per year (20k for tuition and 20k for living).

assuming you are paying for your cost of living at all three places, you would save about $40k by staying at Ave Maria. That is not an insignificant number, but you need to figure out if FSU and FIU's benefits are worth it.

I agree with Citylaw, you shouldn't base your decision here solely on ranking. I mean, if everything was equal financially and you were going into this as a 1L and you could care less where you worked after and you had similarly strong vibes about each school, you could then use ranking as a good tie breaker. The reality is you would probably have a little easier time finding work coming out of FSU than Ave Maria in a general sense. However, those aren't your circumstances. I would transfer, again, if you have a strong desire to work in another schools specific region. If you want to work in Portland, however, each of these schools are going to be equally good and equally bad at helping you get a job there, so I would say go to the cheapest.

I guess what I'm saying is, we need more info.

Logged

barprephero

So i need to choose which law school to transfer to. I have a full scholarship at Ave Maria, but have no scholarships at FIU & FSU. I'm in the top 10% at Ave Maria and will lose my ranking when i transfer. Help please!